


Party to Death

by kitkatt0430



Series: Hartmon Halloween [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, I was watching the Vincent Price movie while writing this, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Murder House, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Suicide mention, The House on Haunted Hill - Fusion, The Party has just begun, attempted drowning, gay bashing mention, murder party - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27313714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: Would you stay in a haunted house overnight for a million dollars?  For Hartley, the answer is yes.  After being disowned, he needs the money to finish his degree and, besides, it's all fake anyway... right?
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Series: Hartmon Halloween [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992433
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Hartmon Halloween





	Party to Death

"You realize, this is basically the plot to _The House on Haunted Hill_ ," Hartley said as the doors were locked.

One of the other party-goers - or contestants more likely - snorted softly. "Yeah, but I'm guessing we all need the money. Cisco Ramon."

"Hartley Rathaway," he said, shaking the guy's hand. "And you're not wrong. My parents disowned me but because they're still my parents and they're rich, no one will grant me the student loans I need to finish my degree."

"My brother's sick," Cisco replied. "All we've got to do is stick it out until eight in the morning and we're golden. It's all fake anyway."

"Exactly. I'm kind of interested in how they'll fake the haunting, but not enough to really play _Scooby-Doo_ to find out. Though I admit I'm hoping for a piano or organ that plays on its own. That's a classic," Hartley drawled as they followed their host - Harrison Wells - into the dining room for the dinner party portion of the night. After dinner there would be a house tour with a discussion about all the ghosts that supposedly haunted the house, then drinks and dessert, before they all retired for the night. In the morning there would be breakfast and then they'd be each handed their million dollar checks and allowed to leave. Anyone who left early didn't get their checks. Anyone who died... also did not get the money.

Not that anyone was going to die, of course. Though Hartley figured there'd be at least one fake murder in the middle of the night.

Suffice it to say, Hartley was not going to be running to investigate any loud screaming during the night. Nor did he intend to actually sleep. He'd brought a tablet loaded with plenty of books and figured he'd re-read some of the old _Star Wars X-Wings_ series. Though... Cisco was promisingly hot, so maybe he'd come out of this with a phone number and a date?

"Please, everyone, be seated," Wells intoned, gesturing to the chairs around the table. The table itself was already laden with food, waiting to be served. "Welcome to the Regent Parks House. The most haunted building in Central City. Seven murders in the last fifty years have happened in these halls and the spirits linger even now, waiting for the next to join their number."

Hartley refrained, barely, from rolling his eyes as he settled next to Cisco at the table. He wasn't the only one, either.

Wells had them go around the table, introducing themselves. Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Leonard Snart, Iris West, Roy Bivolo, and Eddie Thawne all introduced themselves along with Cisco and Hartley. Which was when a young woman walked into the room. "My niece, Jesse Wells," Harrison introduced while Jesse glowered at him sulkily.

Was there actually a story there, or had the acting begun already?

* * *

"Do you think there'll be a vat of acid in the basement?" asked one of the other guests. Hartley thought it might be Barry Allen

Seemed Hartley and Cisco weren't the only one who'd seen the Vincent Price classic. (The remake just wasn't nearly as good as the original.)

"Knowing my uncle," responded Jesse, "of course there is. And he's probably planning to shove me in there so that he can inherit what my parents left me when they died last year."

"Our first stop on the house tour," Wells said, gathering everyone's attention, "is the library. The first thing to keep in mind is that none of the murders that took place in this house were ordinary murders."

Snart snorted in amusement. "When is murder ever ordinary?" he muttered, clearly unimpressed with Wells' showboating.

"The original owners of the house were James and Kira Regent and the designer of the house an architect by the name of Michael Park. Hence the name of the house being the Regents Park House. Unfortunately, not even a year after moving into the house, Kira Regent was found strangled to death in this very library. The doors and windows were all locked from the inside and no rope was ever found. The murderer never caught. Her husband remarried, however, and both he and his second wife's story is better told at our next stop. However, please, feel free to look about the library first, before we carry on.

"Think maybe there's a hidden passageway somewhere," Cisco asked Hartley.

"Could be," Hartley replied.

"Oh there is. Come on, I can show you," Jesse told them. 

Hartley exchanged a look with Cisco and they both shrugged and followed her, along with Allen and Snart.

There was a wall sconce near the back wall near the windows and when Jesse twisted it, a panel opened to reveal a staircase going upwards. "My theory is that James murdered his wife. Or Parks did. Either one of them would have been aware of the staircase. It leads to the upstairs hallway with all the bedrooms; I can show you the exit later. I found it this morning, after Uncle Harrison and I arrived."

"You don't actually think he'd try to kill you... do you?" Allen asked the girl.

The teenager shrugged laconically. "Considering I think he sabotaged the brakes on my parents car and caused their crash? Yes. I do. It's not about the money. A million dollars each for eight people is chump change to him. It's about the land rights. Most of what my parents left me is property and he wants to use it for something. My parents told him no and two weeks later they're dead. I won't let him do it either." She turned and stalked off.

"Nice kid," Snart muttered. "Think she's an actress?"

"No, I googled Jesse Wells at dinner," Barry said, showing Snart his phone. "She's real enough. And what she said about her parents dying and leaving her some land in California is pretty much what the article says. Minus the murder accusations, anyway."

"Could still be her and her uncle putting together a believable show for us," Hartley observed. "I kind of figured this whole thing was basically a candid camera setup."

Cisco and Barry nodded in agreement, but Snart was frowning and watching Wells. "I don't know. There's something about our host that's a little... off."

* * *

Stop number two is the kitchens where James Regent was found stabbed to death with a stiletto. Michael Park was the murderer there, though he'd died of a heart attack at the police station some time later that evening, never having explained why he did it. Avenging the death of Kira Regent is speculated by some of the other guests as the reason for James' murder, though Hartley has to wonder. Six years is a long time to wait for a revenge murder. And a stiletto is an odd weapon of choice.

The second Mrs. Regent sold the house afterwards and it apparently sat vacant for some time afterwards. Which was when the next deaths occurred.

Third stop is in the basement, predictably. There's no vat of acid, but a tale of two gay men being bashed to death. Wells' retelling is clinical, just like his previous two tales. The two men had broken into the abandoned house and found their way to the basement, but when they were discovered by a concerned neighbor armed with a bat... and then their killer fell down the stairs, breaking his own neck.

The story gives Hartley chills anyway. Having been recently disowned for being gay himself, it makes him uncomfortable. Cisco takes his hand and Hartley's grateful for that kindness.

At this point they're at six deaths, but only four murders. And Wells had been quite pointed in saying that seven murders had happened in the house. 

The rest of basement tour is fairly straightforward. There's abandoned bowling alley - where the two murders occurred - and a swimming pool. The pool is full of water, but Hartley's no about to go for a swim. Nor are any of the rest of the party.

Back on the main floor, another tale of murder greets them in the main hall. A young woman who hung herself from the chandelier. Or, more likely, murdered. There'd been no trace left of how the rope came to be tied to the chandelier nor of how the young woman, Lana Hall, had been strung up. Those who claimed suicide said she put the noose around her neck and jumped off the second floor. Those who thought it murder believed she was either shoved off the second floor or her body dragged up and tied off. Either way, her neck snapped like she'd suffered a sudden drop halted by the length of rope about her neck. Classic hanging. The chandelier itself was less sturdy than expected. When investigators when to cut down her body, they barely even touched the rope before the chandelier itself gave way... killing one of the detectives. An accident, of course.

Five murders, two 'accidental' deaths, and a heart attack. And Hartley was, maybe, regretting not investigating the house's history beforehand. At least then the double murder in the basement wouldn't have taken him by surprise.

Cisco's still letting Hartley hold his hand, though, which is very sweet of him.

In the upstairs hallway, Jesse shows them the exit for the secret passageway and her Uncle revealed the final two murders. A young man murdered by his bride to be during a rehearsal dinner for their wedding. They'd gone upstairs to argue when the shouting turned into screaming. Blood stained the white carpet red and soaked into the floor below. Though the carpet was replaced, the wood around the railing still had dark stains that Wells claimed was the poor young man's blood.

Last, but not least, was in the house's creepy attic. A murder suicide of a mother and child. 

Hartley's not really in the mood for dessert after that particular tour, but he's more than happy for a drink or two to steady his nerves.

* * *

Despite himself, Hartley really does fall asleep. He wakes up, tablet on his chest and his wrist in an uncomfortable, awkward position and, unfortunately, gone stiff. He's rolling his wrist and trying to figure out what woke him when he hears distant screaming.

He shouldn't go investigate. He'd promised himself no playing Scooby-Doo. He goes out his door anyway and follows the sound down to the basement and the pool, where Eddie Thawne is pulling Jesse Wells out of the water. The girl coughs up water in Thawne's arms while Hartley and Iris West go to grab all the towels they can find to dry the two of them off. 

"She should get checked out at a hospital," Hartley said. If she'd gotten water in her lungs, Jesse could easily suffer from a pulmonary edema - otherwise known as 'secondary drowning'. 

"I'll take her in the morning," said a voice from the stairwell. Harrison Wells was watching them all with a cold expression. "None of us can leave until the doors are unlocked at eight. I don't have the keys. The staff left with them when we were locked in."

If that were true, then none of them actually had the option to leave early after all. Before Hartley could call Wells on that, however, another scream wailed out from somewhere upstairs... 

It seemed the night's festivities had only just begun.


End file.
